Holiday season is an exciting time for everyone, but for us at Bugbear it was even more so. Only a couple of days before Christmas, we released the very first Early Access version of our Next Car Game, with the aim of giving our faithful fans something to enjoy during the holidays.

It was the first time we were going to show the game to everyone, and we were very anxious to hear the feedback, but the game took the Internet by storm: the first Early Access release doubled the sales of the title during the Christmas week! Last autumn, we had a stretch of bad luck with our Kickstarter campaign, and it didn’t reach the goal we were aiming for. Even so, we didn’t lose our faith in the game and wanted to get it in the hands of the players as soon as possible. And thanks to our great supporters, we really couldn’t have asked for a better Christmas present – much to our surprise, we reached and actually topped our original campaign funding goal in just week! Not only that, but the free demo we released a couple of days later has been downloaded over 50,000 times, and the gameplay video posted on the popular Nerd³ Youtube channel has already over 500,000 views.

All this is of course a testament to how awesome crowd of supporters we are fortunate enough to have. Although our game is still at a pretty early stage, and as such, contains many missing features and numerous bugs, the players have loved what we already got and the response has been overwhelmingly positive. We’ve already received a plenty of smart suggestions for future improvements, some of which will of course find their way into the final game. During the coming months we’re going to give the game a lot of polish as well as implement new exciting features, and our Early Access supporters have an opportunity to experience the game as it develops and get involved in the development!

BEHIND THE SCENES: JUNKYARD VISIT

Quite recently we did a little field trip to a local junkyard to take a look at what extreme car damage really means. We learned a lot, and the guys at the junkyard got to have some real fun by showing us how to give a car some real punishment. So as far as we’re concerned everybody won! If you still haven’t had a chance to check out the video from our field day, check it out!

PRE-ORDER NOW TO GET EARLY ACCESS!

Early Access is being sold through our own website for now, and all our pre-order supporters get to download the game through Steam immediately. The first release contains two playable cars and three tracks, showcasing both track racing and demolition derby action with 24 cars.

By pre-ordering the game now, not only you get to play right away but also have a chance to get a lot of cool exclusive extras like technology sneak peek, special supporter car and your name in the game – and what’s best, you get all this for a special, reduced price!

FREE SNEAK PEEK

Don’t forget that the free version of Next Car Game technology sneak peek is still available through our website! With already over 50.000 downloads and counting, countless players around the world are already wreaking havoc in our destructive sandbox! Make sure you’re not left behind!

The free version contains a limited version of the playground scene that we use internally to test various features like car damage and environment destruction. What’s best, by pre-ordering Next Car Game you get access to the full version of the sneak peek with a lot additional cool content for the demo like physics cannon with explosive missiles, new destructive machinery, more spectacular stunts and a ton of dynamic stuff to blow up!

Ladies and gentlemen, start your engines! The time we’ve all been waiting for is finally here: we’re very pleased to announce that we have just released the very first Early Access version of our Next Car Game.

GET EARLY ACCESS

The game is being sold exclusively through our site for now, and thanks to the great guys over at Steam all our pre-order supporters can download the game through Steam. By pre-ordering the game now, not only you get to play right away but also have a chance to get a lot of cool exclusive extras like technology sneak peek 2.0, special supporter car and your name in the game – and what’s best, get all this in a special price!

The first release contains two playable cars and three tracks, showcasing both white-knuckle track racing and explosive demolition derby action with 24 cars that will give you some taste of things to come. However, please be aware that the Early Access phase is meant to give you a chance to experience the game as it progresses through its development cycle, and the game is still at a pretty early stage. As such, it does have a truckload of missing features, nasty bugs, choppy performance and can generally just leave a sour taste in your mouth. It probably doesn't run any better than any old junk car bought off the street, actually. And what’s even worse, there’s not going to be an update until sometime in January! If you’re expecting a complete game, please take your money somewhere else.

But if you’re willing to take the plunge and buy that beater, now you’re chance to finally experience the game (the few parts that have been implemented that actually work, that is) first-hand during the holidays. During the coming months we’re going to give the game a lot of polish as well as implement many new exciting features, and all our Early Access supporters have a opportunity to get involved in the development of the title and tell us what you want.

FREE SNEAK PEEK DEMO

Since it’s a holiday season we don’t want anyone to feel left behind, and as a special gift we’re also releasing a free version of our technology sneak peek for everyone to enjoy! The free version contains a limited version of the playground scene that we use internally to test various features like car damage and environment destruction. By pre-ordering Next Car Game, you can unlock a lot of new additional cool content like physics cannon with missiles, new destructive machinery, more spectacular stunts and a ton of dynamic stuff to blow up!

PRE-ORDER NOW AND GET INSTANT ACCESS TO PLAY EARLY ACCESS AND TECHNOLOGY SNEAK PEEK 2.0!

The response to our first technology sneak peek was so amazing that we decided to give the players even more cool stuff to have fun with and release a new version of the sneak peek! We have added new destructive machinery, more dynamic stuff to blow up, spectacular stunts and an awesome physics cannon that we use to play with our physics engine. With the physics cannon you too will now have a chance to cause mayhem to heart’s content by launching missiles, throwing stuff around and destroying the environment as well as the cars! It will basically blow your socks off! Enjoy!

OVER 5,600 SUPPORTERS ALREADY!

Our crowd funding campaign continues strongly through our website, and over 5,600 players have already pledged their support for Next Car Game. Our supporters have asked us for many features such as LAN multiplayer as well as PS4 and Xbox One releases. We’d love to fulfill your wishes, and to that end we’ll be revealing these and other exciting stretch goals on our website. To reach these goals, we need as much support as we can get. Help us by spreading the word!

Although our Kickstarter campaign has attracted tremendous enthusiasm, during the last couple of weeks it’s become obvious that we are not going to meet our goal. Because of this we have decided concentrate our efforts on the pre-order campaign. A big thank you to all our supporters!

We Finns are not used to giving up so easily, and we are hell-bent to keep on developing the game with our supporters, shaping it into something that no racing game fan can afford to pass. We have this thing called sisu in Finnish, meaning strength of will, and we’re counting on that each of you have a bit of sisu in you!

As a thank-you to our faithful fans, we have decided to release a PLAYABLE technology sneak peek, and it’s available RIGHT NOW to all our pre-order supporters. The sneak peek features a playground that we use internally to test various features various like car damage and environment destruction. The best thing about it is that you will get a chance to have fun and wreak havoc with an amazing 24 cars!

In the full game the action will take place on many locations, including a number of race tracks and derby arenas. We're also going to improve the gameplay and technology on many fronts such as car damage and handling, and our Early Access customers will get a chance to experience these improvements first-hand during the Early Access phase!

We really hope that most of you want to continue supporting us and Next Car Game through our website. To make the game happen, we need your support more than ever. We’d love if you could spread the word to your friends. Take screenshots and capture videos of the craziest stunts you can come up with and show them to everyone on Youtube, Twitter, Facebook, anywhere!

This is the moment you've all been waiting for: we're finally ready to show you some proper racing action on a dirt track! Here we are testing with a powerful rear-wheel drive car how our handling works on gravel, and we're glad to let you know that it feels SUPERB!

Thanks to our great physics, you really get the full white-knuckle racing experience with Next Car Game, if that's what you prefer. On the other hand, if you're a budding race car driver, you can still enjoy the game (and remain competitive!) by enabling a selection of driving aids.

Please note that the game is still very much work-in-progress, and what you see is not representative of the final quality. For example the track has not been properly decorated yet, and there's a lot of additional polish that's going to be done on it. Also, the player car damage has been disabled for the demonstration purposes.

As you know, we still have a plenty of distance to cover if we're going to succeed with our Kickstarter campaign, but you can help us meet our goal. Now it's time for the racing game fans to unite and show us that you want a game like Next Car Game! Our team is having great fun playing the game, and we feel that no other game can match the amazing racing experience offered by Next Car Game. We can't wait to share it with you!